Open house meeting held in Anna to discuss Shawnee National Forest recreation fee proposal

The U.S. Forest Service hosted two open house meetings during October to discuss a recently released recreation fee proposal for the Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois.

One of the open house meetings was held Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 30, at Shawnee Community College’s Anna Extension Center.

Another open house meeting was held Oct. 21 at the civic center in Carbondale. 

“We have had a lot of good discussion about our proposal to charge day-use-fees on the Shawnee National Forest, and we are using the input from people to further shape the proposal,” Shawnee National Forest recreation staff officer Laura Lecher said in a news release prior to the open house meetings in Anna and Carbondale.

Lecher said the Forest Service hoped that people would “take advantage of these meetings to come ask questions and provide their feedback.  The forest is important to all of us, and we want to do our best to take care of it and the recreational opportunities it provides.”

Forest Service personnel were available to discuss the recreation fee proposal and recreation facilities on the Shawnee National Forest, to answer questions the public may have had and to receive comments on the proposal.  

One more public meeting on the fee is anticipated in November at a location still to be determined. The date and location will be publicized when they are set.

The fee proposal was announced Aug. 15. Public comments will be taken until Dec. 6.

The Forest Service has proposed to implement new day-use-fees of $5 per vehicle at six popular recreation sites, including: Garden of the Gods Observation Trail, Pounds Hollow Beach, the Johnson Creek boat launch, the Pomona boat launch, Bell Smith Springs interpretive site and the Little Grand Canyon trailhead.  

A $30 annual pass option is also proposed which would cover all day use fee sites on the forest for a calendar year.  

In addition, the proposal includes increasing the overnight camping fee for the electric sites at Pine Ridge Campground in Pounds Hollow Recreation Area to $15 per campsite. 

Information which was made available by a Forest Service printed document at the open house explained that the proposal would enable the agency to improve facilities and services at the sites and to create prices consistent with comparable facilities on public and private lands. The document was headlined: “Shawnee National Forest Recreation Fee Proposal.”

Fees are proposed based on the level of amenities and service provided, the cost of operations and maintenance and market assessment.

Under the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act of 2004, 95 percent of the fees collected at recreation fee sites remain on the forest to operate, maintain and improve those fee sites.

Examples include trash pickup, septic and toilet pumping, painting, cleaning, addressing a backlog of deferred maintenance and needed repairs, and maintaining highly used trails, shelters and campsites affiliated with the fee sites. 

Revenue from the fee sites is not redirected to non-fee sites on the forest or to any other program.

The last time Shawnee National Forest fees were raised was in 2009. The campground fees went from $5 to $10 for a single site, from $9 to $12 for a double site and from $12 to $15 for a triple site.

The Shawnee National Forest has never previously charged standard amenity fees at day use sites.

In 2014, electric hookups were added to 13 campsites at the Pine Ridge Campground; however, the fee for camping in a site with electricity available is currently the same as camping at a site without power.

The six day-use sites in the proposal are the most highly developed of such sites on the Shawnee National Forest.

The sites incorporate multiple amenities which are not typical of Shawnee National Forest recreation sites and consequently require more effort and funding for maintenance, the Forest Service explained.

The Forest Service stated it is “proposing these  changes to align our prices with the services and amenities provided and changes to the cost of operations and maintenance since the 2009 adjustment. We plan to use these funds to help us continue to provide high quality recreation experiences an to address some of our backlogged deferred maintenance needs.”

Under the 2004 recreation lands legislation, the Forest Service is required to implement a transparent process for making fee changes and to conduct extensive public involvement.

All comments will be reviewed by the Forest Service and presented before the Region 9 Recreation Resource Advisory Committee, RRAC, in the spring of 2020.

The Forest Service said the members of the RRAC represent a broad array of recreation interest groups to help ensure that the agency is proposing reasonable  and publicly acceptable fee changes.

The RRAC meeting is open to the public. The meeting time, location and agenda will be announced on the forest’s website and through local media. 

After the RRAC meets, a regional forester will make the final decision regarding the proposed fees based on the advisory committee’s input.

If the fee proposals are approved, the new fees would be implemented in the summer of 2020.

Details about the proposal, as well as a comment form, can be found on the Shawnee National Forest website at http://www.fs.usda.gov/shawnee.  

Comments can be submitted through the website, by email, mail or hand delivered to a Shawnee National Forest office. The forest has an office in Jonesboro, at the Lincoln Memorial Picnic Grounds.

Comments can be mailed to Shawnee National Forest, Attn: Recreation Fee Proposal, 50 Highway 145 S, Harrisburg, Ill. 62946.

Updates can be found on the Shawnee National Forest’s Facebook events page at www.facebook.com/shawneenatlforest/events.